VM slur on decent users?

<<In some cases the top 5% of users were downloading as much as 2GB,
just during peak times. That's around 500 music tracks in the space of
a few hours.>>

A slur on virgin broadband users?
They imply that VM BB users (for example those who get throttled after
downloading only 350MB on a 2MB connection) are no better than a bunch of
pirates who wreck the service for the majority with their
dubious and questionable MUSIC TRACK downloading - everyone has heard of
the furore surrounding the music + p2p issue and it looks to me like VM
are are tarring us with that particular brush. That is a downright filthy
slimey underhand back stabbing tactical slur on ordinary decent users and
what for? So they could roll out their 20MB service on the cheap. Both the
20 MB service and peak time throttling commenced in the same time frame.



From the VM website:
http://www.virgin.net/helpme/broadba...s_traffic.html


Virgin Broadband Traffic Management

We don't like traffic jams
Here at Virgin Media, we want all our customers to get the best service
possible from their broadband. That means speedy downloads for all users
– not just a few.

When someone is downloading a particularly large amount of information over
a long period of time, it can slow down the internet speed for other
users who might just be checking their email or browsing online. So to
make sure our service is fair for everybody, we sometimes moderate the
speeds during peak times (4pm till midnight) for customers who are
downloading an unusually large amount at these times.

This ensures that the service doesn't get blocked up with people using more
than their fair share – which means a lot fewer traffic jams on the
information superhighway.

Will my download speed be affected?
At present, your speed won't be moderated unless you're in the top 5% of
downloaders. Our boffins recently ran a trial to see how much our service
was being affected. They discovered that, in certain areas, customers
were downloading such a large amount of content that it was affecting the
service for other users in these areas.

And we're not talking about just a few video clips. In some cases the top
5% of users were downloading as much as 2GB, just during peak times.
That's around 500 music tracks in the space of a few hours.

So, unless you're downloading an unusually large amount of information at
peak times, we won't restrict your service and you can download to your
heart's content.

Aren't you just trying to cut costs?
We've never believed in cutting costs for the sake of it. And we never
will. We want to deliver the best possible value to all our customers –
and that's exactly what we're doing. By reducing speeds for a small number
of customers during our busiest periods, we improve the overall experience
for the vast majority of our customers.

<snip>

Bernie wrote:
<snip>
> And we're not talking about just a few video clips. In some cases the top
> 5% of users were downloading as much as 2GB, just during peak times.
> That's around 500 music tracks in the space of a few hours.

lol, a *whole* 2GB? Their boffins want to see the usage habits of some
of our customers

Rgds,

--
|Bob Pullen Broadband Solutions for
|Support Home & Business @
|PlusNet plc. www.plus.net
+------ PlusNet - The smarter way to broadband ------

"Bernie" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:ffprmd$qtn$(E-Mail Removed)...
> <<In some cases the top 5% of users were downloading as much as 2GB,
> just during peak times. That's around 500 music tracks in the space of
> a few hours.>>
>
> A slur on virgin broadband users?
> They imply that VM BB users (for example those who get throttled after
> downloading only 350MB on a 2MB connection) are no better than a bunch
> of
> pirates who wreck the service for the majority with their
> dubious and questionable MUSIC TRACK downloading - everyone has heard
> of
> the furore surrounding the music + p2p issue and it looks to me like
> VM
> are are tarring us with that particular brush. That is a downright
> filthy
> slimey underhand back stabbing tactical slur on ordinary decent users
> and
> what for? So they could roll out their 20MB service on the cheap. Both
> the
> 20 MB service and peak time throttling commenced in the same time
> frame.

They have this knack of makin the customer feel that it's all the other
customers fault.
Then they have this other knack of makin you feel thankful that they are
givin you an enjoyable internet experience by savin them loads of money.

On 28 Oct, 14:11, "Gonz" <T o p @ S e c r e t . c o m> wrote:
> "Bernie" <Ber...@the.bolt> wrote in message
>
> news:ffprmd$qtn$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>
>
>
>
> > <<In some cases the top 5% of users were downloading as much as 2GB,
> > just during peak times. That's around 500 music tracks in the space of
> > a few hours.>>
>
> > A slur on virgin broadband users?
> > They imply that VM BB users (for example those who get throttled after
> > downloading only 350MB on a 2MB connection) are no better than a bunch
> > of
> > pirates who wreck the service for the majority with their
> > dubious and questionable MUSIC TRACK downloading - everyone has heard
> > of
> > the furore surrounding the music + p2p issue and it looks to me like
> > VM
> > are are tarring us with that particular brush. That is a downright
> > filthy
> > slimey underhand back stabbing tactical slur on ordinary decent users
> > and
> > what for? So they could roll out their 20MB service on the cheap. Both
> > the
> > 20 MB service and peak time throttling commenced in the same time
> > frame.
>
> They have this knack of makin the customer feel that it's all the other
> customers fault.
> Then they have this other knack of makin you feel thankful that they are
> givin you an enjoyable internet experience by savin them loads of money.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

They ae just so out of touch it's scary..

How on earth could they have been voted Best Consumer ISP..

Jim.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> "Gonz" <T o p @ S e c r e t . c o m> wrote:
> >
> > They [Virgin Media] have this knack of makin the customer feel that it's all the other
> > customers fault.
> > Then they have this other knack of makin you feel thankful that they are
> > givin you an enjoyable internet experience by savin them loads of money.- Hide quoted text -
>
> They ae just so out of touch it's scary..
>
> How on earth could they have been voted Best Consumer ISP..

Simple.

NTL's only competition was Virgin, Orange and Tiscali. Those were the finalists for that award.
How they got there is anyone's guess but it strikes me as all but fraudulent.

This is why maybe .....

"Category Criteria
Entrants must have over 250,000 users* of their Internet services."
http://www.ispaawards.org.uk/categor...stConsumer.htm

So basically that rules out any good ones.

Graham

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) ps.com...
> On 28 Oct, 14:11, "Gonz" <T o p @ S e c r e t . c o m> wrote:
>> "Bernie" <Ber...@the.bolt> wrote in message
>>
>> news:ffprmd$qtn$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > <<In some cases the top 5% of users were downloading as much as
>> > 2GB,
>> > just during peak times. That's around 500 music tracks in the space
>> > of
>> > a few hours.>>
>>
>> > A slur on virgin broadband users?
>> > They imply that VM BB users (for example those who get throttled
>> > after
>> > downloading only 350MB on a 2MB connection) are no better than a
>> > bunch
>> > of
>> > pirates who wreck the service for the majority with their
>> > dubious and questionable MUSIC TRACK downloading - everyone has
>> > heard
>> > of
>> > the furore surrounding the music + p2p issue and it looks to me
>> > like
>> > VM
>> > are are tarring us with that particular brush. That is a downright
>> > filthy
>> > slimey underhand back stabbing tactical slur on ordinary decent
>> > users
>> > and
>> > what for? So they could roll out their 20MB service on the cheap.
>> > Both
>> > the
>> > 20 MB service and peak time throttling commenced in the same time
>> > frame.
>>
>> They have this knack of makin the customer feel that it's all the
>> other
>> customers fault.
>> Then they have this other knack of makin you feel thankful that they
>> are
>> givin you an enjoyable internet experience by savin them loads of
>> money.- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
> They ae just so out of touch it's scary..
>
> How on earth could they have been voted Best Consumer ISP..

It's not too hard when you see the finalists they're up against.

On Sun, 28 Oct 2007 23:19:54 -0000, in uk.telecom.broadband , "Gonz"
<T o p @ S e c r e t . c o m> wrote:

>> How on earth could they have been voted Best Consumer ISP..
>
>It's not too hard when you see the finalists they're up against.

There's a clue in the word "finalist". It means /all the other/ ISPs
were eliminated in earlier rounds.
--
Mark McIntyre

On Sun, 28 Oct 2007 23:02:20 +0000, in uk.telecom.broadband , Eeyore
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

(replying to someone who said)
>> How on earth could they have been voted Best Consumer ISP..
>
>NTL's only competition was Virgin, Orange and Tiscali.

The clue is in the word "finalist". This means the other entries were
eliminated in earlier rounds, as any footy fan will tell you.

>"Category Criteria
>Entrants must have over 250,000 users* of their Internet services."
>http://www.ispaawards.org.uk/categor...stConsumer.htm
>
>So basically that rules out any good ones.

It rules out any *small* ones.
--
Mark McIntyre

Mark McIntyre wrote:

> "Gonz" <T o p @ S e c r e t . c o m> wrote:
>
> >> How on earth could they have been voted Best Consumer ISP..
> >
> >It's not too hard when you see the finalists they're up against.
>
> There's a clue in the word "finalist". It means /all the other/ ISPs
> were eliminated in earlier rounds.

How many more ISPs are there with > 250,000 customers ? BT maybe ? That was a
criterion for eligibility for that category. None of the 'best consumer ISP'
finalists made it anywhere in the 'best consumer broadband' category. I wonder
why that is.

It seems to me that the 'best consumer ISP' category is a joke that just
consists of some of the UK's worst performers.

Graham

Mark McIntyre wrote:

> Eeyore <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> (replying to someone who said)
> >> How on earth could they have been voted Best Consumer ISP..
> >
> >NTL's only competition was Virgin, Orange and Tiscali.
>
> The clue is in the word "finalist". This means the other entries were
> eliminated in earlier rounds, as any footy fan will tell you.

How many ISPs have > 250,000 customers ?


> >"Category Criteria
> >Entrants must have over 250,000 users* of their Internet services."
> >http://www.ispaawards.org.uk/categor...stConsumer.htm
> >
> >So basically that rules out any good ones.
>
> It rules out any *small* ones.

And the only good ones are indeed the smaller ones.

Graham